Coach Phil: Today, could you delve into focusing our minds and how this can be both a powerful tool and a potential pitfall?
Lou Tice: I've seen firsthand how locking onto an idea or task can completely shape a player's performance, for better or worse.
Phil, I've always believed our perceptions can significantly impact our potential and performance. I've noticed that helping players focus on their strengths and the positive aspects of their games really unlocks their abilities. For instance, asking players about their favourite plays helps tailor their approach and boosts their confidence.
Coach Phil: That sounds like a practical application of cognitive behavioural principles that you teach in easy-to-understand language: Changing one's perception can indeed change the outcome.
I recall you sharing a story about Tommy Eddings from your high school teaching/coaching days. Can you share more about that with our audience?
Lou Tice: Sure, Tommy wasn't initially seen as the most valuable player, but when I shifted my perception and focused on his unique strengths, we saw remarkable improvements. He ended up scoring 12 touchdowns over two games!
Often, when sitting in my office at lunchtime, this smart, egotistical, “know-it-all” little fullback named Tommy Eddings would tell me how to run my team. See how my opinion of him was? What I had locked on to was that he was a smart, egotistical, know-it-all, always trying to shoot his mouth off and run my game, giving me advice.
What does he know? I'm the coach!
So, one day, the kid knocked on my door, and I said, “Hey, Tommy, tell me, what's your favorite play? You know, tell me, how can you get in the endzone? How can you score?” He answered, “Coach, I'm glad you finally asked.” Geez, that almost made me mad, too, you know, because I thought I almost always asked.
Tommy continued, “So you know when you got me to knock the end down on the backside, which is the far side, and you got David, the quarterback, going off to the left on his own by the sideline?” He continued to explain, “After I knock the end down, everybody else leaves me. I stand around, and even the end gets up and leaves me. If you want, all you have to do is have David – when he gets to the other side of the field - stop and throw me the ball. There’s nobody around me. Never has been!”
Hmm, I pondered, that seems too simple.
So, the kid who I thought couldn’t score a touchdown scored six in one game. In the next game, he scored six more touchdowns. He scored 12 touchdowns in two games and he wasn't even our best running back! So, I went to another running back, Joe Simmons, and asked him, “Say, Joe, what’s your favorite play?”
And I became a good coach.
Isn't it amazing how they suddenly changed? Or was it my perception and my thinking? What I had locked onto was that I wouldn’t let myself see options, opportunities, resources, or ways of doing things.
In the psychological vernacular, a change like that and how you see things is called a paradigm shift. But I'm letting you know that you can have massive paradigm shifts when you let go of who you are, what you are, and the opinions of others.
It isn't just me as a coach. It's you, it’s us. And if you don't know what you're locking on to, you wonder why it is, and you feel you’ll never be good at this, you’ll never be good at that.
We all suffer from “I’m a _________, I’m a _________, I’m a _________,” thinking (you fill in the blanks).
Whatever your “I’m a _________” is, you won't let yourself see things in any other way. You have a scotoma, which is Greek for a blind spot. We all have them, and we have them in all of our five senses.
Coach Phil: It's fascinating how a shift in perception led to such a dramatic change. That aligns with the idea that “what we believe shapes what we achieve.”
Lou Tice: Well, I decided it was crucial to stop assuming I knew the best strategies for my team. By engaging more with my players about their preferences on the field, I started to see them in a new light, which was quite enlightening.
Coach Phil: Openness seems to be key. Have you encountered any risks or concerns about these changes?
Lou Tice: Initially, I was concerned that my old beliefs were limiting my team's performance. It felt risky to change approaches mid-season, but the benefits outweighed my concerns. It's all about adapting and evolving. Absolutely, change always comes with risks, but the growth we see is often worth it. This doesn’t only apply to athletes. It applies to everyone: salespeople and leaders at all levels…and don’t forget your family and friends.
Coach Phil: Based on your curriculum and conversations, I'll continue asking my clients/players about their favourite plays and using that feedback to adapt strategies. This approach has greatly impacted me and my clients' performance, helping us make change easier.
Lou Tice: It sounds like you're on a promising path, Phil. How do you handle distractions, or as I like to call them, scotomas, during this process?
Coach Phil: It's tough, especially with various opinions and distractions. I try to focus on our agreed goals and remind everyone why we're here. Keeping the end goal in mind helps us not to get sidetracked.
Lou Tice: That’s a crucial strategy. Keep fostering those long-term relationships and keep challenging those beliefs. Every step based on this new perspective could lead to significant breakthroughs for you and your clients.
Coach Phil: I look forward to our next conversation.
Additional Tips
Lou Tice and I discussed the importance of perception and concentration in unlocking one's potential. Lou shared his experiences as a coach and mentor, emphasizing the significance of assisting others in personal growth and development.
I acknowledged how my beliefs about wealth and success had limited my potential.
Takeaways: The Dangers of Fixating on One Thing.
- Guard against "locking on" to limited beliefs or information that block out alternative perspectives.
- People become so engrossed in something they're focused on that they block out other information.
- Consider the child watching TV and not hearing their parents. This shows how fascination with something can scotomas, i.e. create blind spots.
- Our beliefs can greatly impact our performance, including our limiting beliefs that hinder growth and progress.
- Lou encourages listeners to recognize and challenge their limiting beliefs and cultivate a positive, high-performance image of themselves and their work.
Lou Tice was an educator and coach. He and his wife, Diane Tice, co-founded the Pacific Institute, an organization dedicated to performance improvement and professional development. His work often revolved around the concepts of self-esteem, goal setting, and leadership.
This is a series of articles around what I feel Lou would share with me today if he were still with us. His impact on the world and me was wonderful! His legacy lives on through the many people The Pacific Institute impacted, including Businesses and sports Teams, reducing the numbers on welfare systems, reducing recidivism, Apartheid in South Africa, and transitioning from a communist regime.
Lou Tice firmly believed that we become what we think about most of the time, and his teachings centered around using our thoughts to shape a better reality for ourselves.
-courtesy Coach Phil
